Author: Alexandra

Walkabout

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The sun was shining early this morning. So me and mine showered and got dressed as quickly as we could in order to get out, and go for a walkabout. 

While waiting for the bus to go to our favour Halle to pick up some food for the day, we saw this weird tree/shrub, with foot-long been/seed pods. It has very large heart-shaped leaves with weird little almost black blossoms. If anyone knows what it is, let me know. 

On the way home, I also found a still-flowering Lilac, which is odd as we’re nearing the end of June. But there you go, we didn’t really get a spring here, and summer so far? Well, we’ll see what July brings in a few days time. 

As you can see by the before and after trip photos, the clouds had started to build up by the time we got home a couple of hours later, showing just how much moisture there is already building up towards this afternoon’s storm. 

Fingers crossed it isn’t too wild.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor

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While Andrew Taylor beautifully evokes the stifled atmosphere of New York City under siege during the War of Independence (also referred to as the ‘Revolutionary War’). And gives us a plausible enough character in the guise of Mr. Edward Savill, a clerk for the American Office based in London. The over-all arcing storyline could have done with some judicious (if not) ruthless editing to bring the unwieldily mess into a more manageable read. As it stands, The Scent of Death meanders all over the place, so much so, that at one point I had to abandon it.

It wasn’t so much from boredom, as tedium from an over abundance of exposition and story lines, that could have, IMHO, been a little more succinct and to the point. It’s one thing to describe a place, in detail, and evoke a sense of being there, and then, quite another to drown the reader in minutia.

That isn’t to say I didn’t, in the end, enjoy this historically set mystery, just that I would have liked to have arrived at its conclusion a lot faster than I did. Especially as at the latter stages of Savill’s journey of discovery, it feels like the author suddenly rushed the ending, in comparison that went before.

That said, the characters were, for the most part, well-drawn and delineated. As was the setting, from the gritty, realistic brutality of Canvas Town, down to the rest of the city struggling under shortages.

Much of the intrigue and mystery of the novel is centred around the Wintour family which Savill is lodging with, rather than the war itself. But this too suffers from a meandering narrative that fails to deliver any real surprises at the book’s end.

All in all, while The Scent of Death may be well researched and accurate in certain detail, it suffers from glacial pacing and unsympathetic characters who lacked any emotional depth to make the mystery worth bothering about.

A Ray of Sunshine …

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Look, white puffy clouds and glimpses of sunshine and blue skies …

We had to take a walk to the pharmacy to go collect the mad potion for my colonoscopy next Friday, Jul 3. We walked passed what I call the Swiss Chalet house. One of my favs in the area. It’s the last distinct house left standing in this area, which is kind of sad. 

We were also mobbed by a swarm (Plague?) of speckled Grackles, whooping it up. I think it was a large family group as I’m sure there were several juveniles in there along with a handful of adults. Either way, they swooped passed us, cackling the whole way. Not sure I’ve ever been dive-bombed by a Plague of birds before. [sorry, no photos].

While out we also ended up buying a new stand alone fan, which was on sale at the pharmacy. Yes, I know, what do we need a fan for when I’ve been constantly moaning about how bad the weather is. The thing is, in between all the rain, when the sun does come out, it’s warm (almost hot, but not quite … yet) warm enough to warrant a cooling fan, but not hot enough to roll out the AC unit and get it set up. Something that is a really pain in the butt and hassle to do.

So, we bought a new fan for the lounge to help circulate cooler air. At least, that’s the plan. The old stand-alone we moved into the tiny cramp, very hot office, as the OH has so much gear in there right now, the place heats up enough to make the OH glisten. And a sweat sheen is not a good look on anyone during a Teams meeting, as everyone knows. 

On the other hand, during winter, they don’t need any extra heating in there. Three screens, two computers, and a laptop are more than enough.

All that to say, we got a new fan. Saw some grackles, bought a bar of chocolate as a reward, and have my intestinal cleansing kit for my up-coming butt example. Something you all really wanted to know, right?

Lovely!

Extraordinary People by Peter May

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I so wanted to ‘like’ EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE by Peter May but, in the end, this one was a little too staged, with sluggish pacing. Moments that could have and should have been tense, and dramatic, were lost amid the travelogue descriptions that sucked up more than their fair share of page length. It’s all very well to set the scene, but quite another to go on and on with too much incidental detail, that it becomes tedious.

The characters themselves were under developed and, at times, a little too opaque, if not, obvious. The plodding French detective who smokes too much. The far-left leaning reporter who dresses like a film star. To the femme fatale psychologist MacLeod falls in love with who seems to be as clueless as Enzo. Never mind that one too many of the situation they found themselves in—whether finding convenient clues on Google, to someone standing on a plaque dedicated to a dead dog—were all a little to contrived for my liking.

The lead character of Enzo—has already enjoyed an amazing life with two daughters by different women, a divorced wife, a dead mistress and a drastic career change resulting in moving to another country. All this before the book even starts—sounded too much like a drop-out hippie (think Scottish comedian Billy Connolly) rather than the respected forensic specialist turned professor he’s supposed to be. And for someone who was supposed to have been at the top of his game, a specialist in his field, he doesn’t know how to use a computer, is somewhat laughable. Suspension of disbelief is stretched to the max.

Add in the fact that he’s perpetually being on the derogatory side when in the company of women, from eyeing and ogling a 23 year-old student’s breasts to lusting after a woman he’s only just met, and the ex of one of his (supposedly) closest friends. It make the man come across as lecherous. Or, as a Scot might say, a dirty old man! Maybe the author was pouring a little bit too much of himself into Enzo than is considered healthy. Either way, it didn’t endear the character to me in any way, shape, or form.

That said, if you like the simplistic kind of murder mysteries, where the befuddled hero steadfastly unravels all the arcane clues to their conclusion—contrived or otherwise—then you might like this. Otherwise I suggest you look elsewhere.

Good Food – a recipe

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Because a couple of you asked, Odd & David, I’ll try and recreate the recipe for last night’s pork stew. So, here goes nothing …

Ingredients:

  • 8oz pork pieces (mine were lean loin)

  • 1 large yellow onion cut in chunks

  • 6 carrots cut in chunks

  • 3 large potatoes cut in chunks

  • 2 bay leaves

  • large pinch of oregano

  • a good splash of Worcestershire sauce (about 1 tsp)

  • 1 ½ cup of Aurora mushroom broth

  • 1 tbsp tomato puree

  • sunflower oil

  • salt & pepper

  • flour 

Method:

  1. Heat the oven to gas mark 5 or 350F

  2. dredge the pork pieces in a zip-loc with the flour and salt & pepper till thoroughly coated

  3. In a large oven-proof pan, sauté the onions in the oil over a med to high heat till translucent

  4. add the pork piece and cook on high till no longer pink

  5. add the mushroom broth, remember to stir constantly and scrap the bottom of the pan for all the brown bits

  6. stir in the Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, oregano and tomato puree

  7. add in the potatoes and carrots, make sure there is enough broth to cover all the veg

  8. cover and bring to a rapid boil

  9. place in oven to cook for at least 2 hours

And there you have it. Hopefully your version will taste as good as mine did. Enjoy!

Notes: 

  • If you cannot get the Aurora brand of mushroom stock where you live, try your fav brand of vegetable stock. Remember, each deviation results in a slightly different taste. 

  • You can also cook the onion is smokey bacon or lardons.

  • You can try thyme and or rosemary instead of oregano.

  • You can use ½ cup of white wine to deglaze the pan instead of ½ cup of broth for a different flavour.

  • But always make sure all the veg is covered in broth before putting it in the oven, or the veg will burn.